Our War--New world design

[Malcor Sylverwood]

Time to actually move onto the next point...we need a world. I think the general feeling is to create our own. So, which way should be go about this?
A) Start creating locations and draw a map around it
B) Create a map and start filling it in?

So, this is an open call for cartographers and writers.

As for the world, it would probably be best to start with a generic fantasy concept. Probably high magic. I don't want to draw much from anything, but using the Forgotten Realms as a general idea wouldn't be bad. High magic, lots of history, humans being generally the dominate species.

Thoughts?

To work with you! ~cracks whip~

-Malcor "War master" Sylverwood


PS. Sorry for the rambling and incoherence...thats why I need your help ;)

[LaughingTurtle]

....excuse me if this sounds dense but what exactly do you mean when you say "high magic"

Also, while I don't have much map making skills, I don't know if I would like using Forgotten Realms stuff..esp cause I don't have much knowledge of it. :rolleyes:

Anyway...back to the map....I think that like most other fantasy authors we can whip up a good map with little trouble and what not and if need be as time goes by we can always do additions like say seanchan from wot or old world from SOT.

My vote goes to create the map and fill in locations later....I mean that's how the real world works...you didn't have the city before the land. Though this just sounds better for me, I can be convinced otherwise.

[Malcor Sylverwood]

....excuse me if this sounds dense but what exactly do you mean when you say "high magic"High magic: Magic is prevalent in the world. Generally low technology. Magic can accomplish about anything. Yadda yadda yadda


I don't know if I would like using Forgotten Realms stuff..esp cause I don't have much knowledge of it. :rolleyes:My bad...I was just wanting to use it...as a frame of reference...not actually using anything from it.


My vote goes to create the map and fill in locations later....I mean that's how the real world works...you didn't have the city before the land. Though this just sounds better for me, I can be convinced otherwise.K...all we need is somebody to create a map...

-Malcor "Creationist...for the war" Sylverwood

[sir archely]

well, in the interest of actually maybe sparking something, i messed around a little bit with the map. it's a bit cartoony, because i made it on photoshop and i'm not very good with that, but at least i made something, right? i'm sure someone can make a better one...besides, this is clearly unfinished. mostly i just really like how my water turned out. :D this was made by putting down a bunch of random dots, and then connecting the dots in a nearly random fashion. so...yeah, please don't make too much fun. you can only make fun if you make your own. :p

edit: hmm...well, that didn't work at all....let's see...

[sir archely]

here? hopefully?

this is a much smaller version of the file than i originally made. anyway, it's crappy no matter how big it is so...whatever.

oh, and ignore the black stuff on the upper left island thingy, i'm not sure what i was doing with that, and i can't get it to go away. ~shrug~ it was...um...a volcano...yeah...~looks around~

anyway, it'd probably be much better if someone actually DREW a map and then scanned it, but i have no such abilities.

[Jennifer]

I could do a better job with actual pencil and paper, but I can't find my colored pencils. :grumbles: Meh...if you like it, then cool, if not, then oh well. :) Of course, A LOT of detail is missing that I'll add if you like the map. And the mountains are kind of weird...I've never done mountains before...

(Can ya tell I'm not getting enough actual work to keep me busy?)

[Curtis]

An offering for the map.

This is a small version, since I don't know how big a file it will let me post. I have a large (and a huge) version of the same map at http://strangemusings.150m.com/warmap.html

[Malcor Sylverwood]

OK, from individual discussions...a high magic setting seems to be the preference. This just means that magic is common enough that pretty much every knows it exists. Minor enchantments aren't hard to find esp with those with money. And those who can use magic can achieve great power.

So, I think the last major thing to take care of, is the religon/god whatever situation. The only reason I'd like to get some basic ideas is that if we don't everyone will come up with thier own, and there won't be much compatibility.

A couple of obvious choices.

1) No gods. Humans (and other races) are left to their own devices. You will likely find cults, but these cult draw no additional power from their beliefs.

2) A small set of gods (often 2). Good vs evil. However, the gods are very hands off.

3) A small set of gods (like 2). Good vs evil. The good deity is hands off, while the evil one interacts trying to turn the world its way.

4) Something like elemental icons (fire, water, earth, air). These tend be more difficult as they oftern aren't good vs evil.

5) A small set of major powers (Good/Nuetral/Evil) and a number of lesser powers. (Death, life, Magic, etc).

6) Something akin to a greek pantheon. Any number, all of varying abilities and powers.

Of course, there are any number of other possibilities. My only real preference is a good vs evil format...as thats easier for me (and I'd say most) to understand and use.

-Malcor "Warrior" Sylverwood

[dark fuschia]

I think I'd be quite happy with any of those except the first. *nods happily* :D

[Malcor Sylverwood]

Wendy says:
I prefer some set good and evil benchmarks too

Malcor says:
So, what I'd probably do...is create three major deities. Good/Nuetral/Evil. Then we can leave the lesser gods (war, love, etc) to the people to define.

[~KA3AK~]

I have some ideas.

1. I think we should not have any form of absolute power. No person or thing should be undefeatable. Even gods or any powerful beings can be taken down by mortals. It add more spice to the story.

2. If we have gods, they should not be heavily involved in the action and rarely pop up.

3. I think that the pure concept of Good vs. Evil with the Neutras in the middle is redundant. Each force or group of people should have it's own agenda and purposes.

4. We should have only a couple types of magic, but many ways to use them and many special abilities (but a limited amount). Having too many types of magic is confusing and the confrontations are hard to resolve. (example: Rand vs Raistlin in a battle of magic or Rand vs. Yoda in a swordfight).

5. General world rules that cannot be broken, like the laws of physics in owr world. Some limitation on magic would be nice. (example: you cannot create a bunny using the One Power).

6. Having several races would be nice, but I oppose having magical races like the elves in LotR.

7. Absence of such ridiculous things as 40,000 year old civilizatios still on the technological lever of XIV century.

8. Realism to the most possible degree. I don't want to see people flying around like in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

9. Religion, religion and religion. It does not have to be true religion (the god actually exists) just the presence of it. If you know anything about history, religion was the basis of the Medieval world and caused many things to happen (the Crusades, Inqusistion, 30 years War etc) so it can create many interesting twists and plotlines.


As far as the map goes, I think all of us should first come up with some ideas of places and countries we want to see on it and then someone should put it together. (I could do it if no one else wants).

[prophetic_joe]

I personally like the idea many gods that are believed in by different religions as in our history (alah, buda, greek and roman gods) we won't use these gods really but i mean that we have many different religions that believe in many different gods. i think while it may be more complicated it adds realism.

as far as magic is concerned i think K3 is right but we shouldn't get too strict on it ( there should be no reason why a new type of magic can't surface considering in real life we are finding new things everday. and i don't think that if it was unheard of to be able to read peoples minds before that it would be a huge deal if all of a sudden someone had that ability)

i also don't have a problem with having groups that have dedicated thier lives to learning all they can about the magic we have. for instance having places like universities of magic and such. i don't think that any race should be more able to wield magic than another but i'm not going to have a tantrum if that is the way it is.

those are just my opinions though

[dark fuschia]

*nods* I must admit I think whatever we start with is all fairly arbitrary, such dynamics will set themselves up as the story unfolds. *nods again* and yeah religions are good and fun *nods for the final time*

[Malcor Sylverwood]

OK, third time is the charm? ~has tried to reply to this before~

1. I think we should not have any form of absolute power. No person or thing should be undefeatable. Even gods or any powerful beings can be taken down by mortals. It add more spice to the story.
I think under most circumstances, if we get into a lot of god slaying, the power level has shifted far too high...time to nuke the world and see what rises from the ashes ;)


2. If we have gods, they should not be heavily involved in the action and rarely pop up.
Yeah, since the power level of a god is out of our players hands...they should never directly interfere.


3. I think that the pure concept of Good vs. Evil with the Neutras in the middle is redundant. Each force or group of people should have it's own agenda and purposes.
I disagree...sometime having people riding the fence can make things interesting...esp to see which side of the fence they come off on.


4. We should have only a couple types of magic, but many ways to use them and many special abilities (but a limited amount). Having too many types of magic is confusing and the confrontations are hard to resolve. (example: Rand vs Raistlin in a battle of magic or Rand vs. Yoda in a swordfight).
Agreed...I doubt this will be too much of a problem. Since we are starting as a pretty generic fantasy, it'll be some form of arcane magic (wizards) and some kind of divine magic (clerics/preists).


5. General world rules that cannot be broken, like the laws of physics in owr world. Some limitation on magic would be nice. (example: you cannot create a bunny using the One Power).
Physics are routinely broken by magic...so I'm not sure where you're trying to go with this. But yes, normally, 'real world' physics apply.


6. Having several races would be nice, but I oppose having magical races like the elves in LotR.
So long as it doesn't make a character innately more powerful than somebody elses, I don't have a problem. Looking at the Fellowship, is Legolas a much better fighter because he's elven? I'd put either Strider or Gimli up against him...at hand to hand range :D


7. Absence of such ridiculous things as 40,000 year old civilizatios still on the technological lever of XIV century.
Again...magic tends to skew this point. This will be low tech world...some technical effect will be mimicked by magic...although probably only for the rich/powerful.


8. Realism to the most possible degree. I don't want to see people flying around like in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Agreed, to a point. You in the very least need to be able to explain some fantastic ability...and keep everything in some general power range.


9. Religion, religion and religion. It does not have to be true religion (the god actually exists) just the presence of it. If you know anything about history, religion was the basis of the Medieval world and caused many things to happen (the Crusades, Inqusistion, 30 years War etc) so it can create many interesting twists and plotlines.
Agreed


As far as the map goes, I think all of us should first come up with some ideas of places and countries we want to see on it and then someone should put it together. (I could do it if no one else wants).
I'm personally fairly fond of Curtis's map. I think its narrow enough to give us some interaction between characters but broad enough to encompass most types of terrains/areas. Plus, since three sides are left open, if there is something that you can't squeeze into this map, we can expand some.

~deep breath~

The more I think about it...the more I'm leaning towards two basic gods. Some good creator type being and some evil destroyer. If it becomes not enough, we can add lesser powers underneath those later...

-Malcor "Creator" Sylverwood

[Curtis]

I'm personally fairly fond of Curtis's map. I think its narrow enough to give us some interaction between characters but broad enough to encompass most types of terrains/areas. Plus, since three sides are left open, if there is something that you can't squeeze into this map, we can expand some.



Aw thanks, Malc. There was some question about whether things should be named, though. If that's a problem, the names are on a separate layer in the original image, I can cut them out in about five seconds.

So how deep a preplan are we planning to make for this war? I agree that it's a good idea to set up some general guidelines, but we don't want to set too much stuff in stone, or it'll start limiting too much of what we can do, placing hard walls around creativity. I certainly don't think things have gone that far yet, just a concern to voice.

[Malcor Sylverwood]

No, other than ratifying the map (and the name are good, IMO) and creating the basics of a religon, and getting people to start giving a face to a few places on the map....I'm ready to roll.

:D

-Malcor "Onward" Sylverwood


PS. If this is in relation to my race thread, I'm not planning on setting those in stone. I just wanted a place to help keep track of new races (if you wanted to create a wombatman for instance) and to help keep there from being 18 variations of races of the same 'name'--elves could easily fall into this, Tolkein elves arent the same as FR elver arent the same as Dragonlance elves.

PPS. I had the strangest feeling of deja vu writing this post. A glitch in the matrix?

[Malcor Sylverwood]

K, just talked to arch...and since Curtis didn't put a scale on his map like I asked... :p heh, well, were thinking 600 or 700 from top to bottom (calling a league 3 miles). Thoughts?

-Malcor "Stretch" Sylverwood

[sir archely]

Hey, curtis, i hope you don't mind but...

i took your map and colored it in basically. thought it'd be pretty. :D one thing i couldn't get to work was the compass rose though. ~shrug~ if anyone has any suggestions on what to do differently...

or curtis, if you have a problem with me messing around with your map, i can take it down too.

oh, also, this is a smaller copy of it, and the quality was also reduced some, since i couldn't fit a normal sized one on here. and, i couldn't get the huge copy on your site to work curtis, so i used the large one.

-sir "tracer" archely

EDIT: okay, it's pretty small, but at least it's not blurry. keep in mind the actual thing is a lot bigger, and of a higher quality.

[~KA3AK~]

I think we should finally introduce metric system into our world. I'm so tired of trying to convert from leagues to miles to yards and stuff!!

[sir archely]

nsh to metric. i vote for hands, paces, stone, etc. :D

[~KA3AK~]

Let's have a poll.

~is prepared to loose by a mile (I mean 1.6 kilometers :broken: )~

[prophetic_joe]

no metric metric very bad it didn't last in america fo a reason lol

[~KA3AK~]

no metric metric very bad it didn't last in america fo a reason lol
You got it all wrong pal. Metric system is very convinient. That's why it is used everywhere in the world, except the US.

[sir archely]

hmm...i agree that metric is generally more useful than standard (english? whatever the hell it's called) but i don't think its useful for the kind of fantasy writing we're trying to produce here. ;)

[Malcor Sylverwood]

Yes, metric is very convient...but very bland. I'd prefer hands, feet, paces, and leagues... ;)

Besided, I'm getting enough metric in chemistry...

-Malcor ":kill: metric" Sylverwood

[Malcor Sylverwood]

OK, in an attempt just to move things forward, I'll assume a Greek type pantheon of gods. So, there may be any number of them, each having 'control' of a different sphere(s). Nature, war, death, life, magic, yadda, yadda, yadda.

~goes to start new thread~

-Malcor "Ao" Sylverwood

[prophetic_joe]

good plan i like it

[dark fuschia]

good plan i like it

lol@metric system

and yay is that a war thread Malcors starting? whoooo!

[prophetic_joe]

i like the more ancient type of measuring, leagues just sounds way better than miles or kilometers.

[Buck]

Dont forget span. That, by far, is the coolest distance measurement.

How much further is it?
Ah what?,... oh about a span. *Coughs*
A span?!! :eek:


how much is a span anyway...not like it matters :D

[Curtis]

Hey, curtis, i hope you don't mind

'Course not. The only thing I'm going to gripe about is changing "Here there be dragons" to Dragonhome, and that's mostly just because I think all maps should trail off in one direction or another with the vague warning of dragons. (-: The map in the phone book at my house used to have it scrawled in the direction of my high school's rival.

[sir archely]

alright, i can do that easily. i guess i just didn't grasp what you meant by it. ;)

[QuirkyTemplate]

I have to admit, I didn't like the map until Arch colored it in. :) But it's all gravy. One request though ... can you please please! put a road running from north to south called The Kemper Road or some such? Or even from east to west. Hehe, it makes sense if you're me. :) (and LT may possibly know as well)

Maybe you don't need to actually draw it in ... (seeing as how no other roads are drawn in) but I'm probably going to have one of my characters deal with this road. Much like the 1982 movie, The Road Warrior (okay, nothing like that)

bah, what am I even talking about anymore?!

>blasts off<

[sir archely]

hmm....i was planning on adding in cities, towns and roads anyhow at some point. i don't see why one of them couldn't be the kemper road. ~shrug~